Sobokusa
by HeartsSalvation
Summary: The sheer ease of it was utterly complicated. Her naïvity was gentle and stunning. My flesh; my blood... She was gorgeous in her simplicity. NejiHina -Rated Mature to be safe-
1. Insolence

**Sobokusa**

Chapter One: Insolence

**Author**: HeartsSalvation  
**Words**: 2,148

The setting of this story will be the same as _most _of my others. So far, I'm sure that it will mainly take place in the Hyuuga Clan Compound. The time of it is just as the Shippuden series starts, or about that time, anyway. That would make Neji about sixteen and Hinata around fifteen.

So, about the pairing, I will offer explanation as well. In Japan, though it may not be _common, _it does happen that some first cousins marry. And, as well, in strong blood-lines, such as the Hyuuga Clan in Naruto, they try their best to keep the blood pure.

Sobokusa - Simplicity [Japanese] (And some other stuff I can't remember.)

So, on with it.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto. I'm sure that you may know that, though.

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The Branch Family. That is the status that I remained under; the second-rate side family. I was bitter; infuriated. Fate was unfair, careless, merciless.

Fate did not care for me.

My father... He was a great man. I believe that he was once as resentful as I am. And though he was one half of a whole; of a pair, he always knew that there should have only been one. More than that only tore the Hyuuga Family in two, in more ways than one.

When Hizashi was born, he was born the second son in a pair of twins. The difference that his older, twin brother - by all of two minutes - would be head of the clan was devastating, though not to everyone, of course, but to himself, at least. Two minutes decided his fate; his dark destiny. It was an understatement to call the decision 'unfair'.

He, as all of the rest in the side family, was branded with the green emblem of the branch of the Hyuuga clan. It was, and still is, an embarrassment to wear. We were the dogs, and fated to stay as such, of the Main Family. Nothing more but to forever serve our own blood.

I remember, painfully, when I was younger, before I was branded their pet, I watched helpless and in horror as Hizashi tried desperately to attack Hinata; the first daughter to the Head of the Clan. I only saw her for what she was, not an heir, but weak and incompetent.

Fate always plays cruel tricks on us for its own enjoyment.

The inky, green seal controls those of the branch. My father had hardly made it three strides before he was rendered harmless; a threat no more. I could see my uncle, just as clearly as I could see him now, standing in his satisfaction, his kicked dog kneeling before him in obedience.

The day I was branded. It was that same day. And it was the day that I trained, as if it helped; as if anything that I did would make a difference. To this day, I still watch my cousin, the heir to the family, Hinata train in a pitiful excuse of the Gentle Fist fighting style.

I knew from the day that I watched her white eyes grow wide with the growing threat of Hizashi, that I would always resent her and the main family.

That great man, the father of only myself, died in cold blood because of the Main Family.

My grudge was forever.

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I sat perfectly still, almost completely rigid, my knees bent and my calves going numb, tingling under my weight. My dull, pearl-colored eyes watched blankly as my younger cousin trained. Her dark hair, reaching to the small of her back, whipped violently in her haste. It had been a month or two since I had seen her.

The Chuunin exams. Something I'd never expected that day... My defeat, my acceptance, my life. Everything changed. So much in so little. And, yet nothing had changed. I felt no difference in the way that I saw the people before me.

And, then, for the first time after them, I felt approved, appraised by all the ones around me. Hinata, the heiress, she was no longer the object. It was something I was not familiar with. And while fate may have released me; that now I lived the way I wished, there was that thing that had not left. Such things as acceptance, it could not erase vivid memories.

Nothing could bring back what was taken from me. His death was all in vain, a simple sacrifice for his family. A sacrifice that hurt his son more than he knew it could. All to protect someone who couldn't defend herself against an Academy student. It would never change.

I sighed quietly through me nose, my eyes focused unseeing ahead of me as my cousin came at her father. She struck and missed, drawing back quickly from his own attack.

While they did train in the Gentle Fists style, they used no chakra to harm each other. Even so, it was apparent that if either made contact when fighting normally, they could easily be taken out, losing their use of chakra slowly with each touch.

Hinata sighed, frustrated, and activated her byakugon hastily as a bead of sweat ran the curve of her temple. The heiress' dark blue hair was matted wetly to her cheeks and forehead. My uncle and her had been at it for at least and hour. Soon, he would take a break and then ask me to join him as Hinata rested.

This, like every other day, was our normal routine. When we weren't away on business, the Head of the family was constantly trying to keep our skills sharp.

The kunoichi sprinted in attack once more, striking a swift blow to the man's chest as she blocked his open hand from touching her thigh. In mere seconds, a cloud of smoke engulfed her father's body with a dull pop, the white puffs creeping through the air in tendrils. The girl's ivory portals opened a fraction of an inch in understanding.

At the heir's back, a rather relaxed Hisashi stood stiff, a firm palm held just in between each of her shoulder blades.

I snorted silently. I'd known the exact moment he had shifted positions, even without my kekkei genkai I could see the action just as easily as if I were watching it on a slower, instant replay. It only proved how terrible the dark-haired heiress really was. As soon as she closed her eyes to activate the byakugon, he had formed a clone, taking on his position. Hisashi had been counting on her making that move.

Was it even possible that the blood of this clan ran pure through her?

Anger flashed through my veins, white and hot, venom in my blood at the thought that _she _would be the Clan leader. Her lack of skill infuriated me. Other than a disgrace for our clan, she was a sorry excuse for a ninja of Konohagakure.

I controlled my expression, holding back a scowl at my younger cousin as she tip-toed behind her father, her breathing slowly regulating. Hisashi smiled incomplete of true friendliness as he stepped onto the wooden paneled porch. I nodded in acknowledgement as he and Hinata sat before the tray at my knees.

Eagerly taking a saucer and cup, my uncle gulped the cool water hungrily, sighing in contempt as he finished and setting it back before himself, folding his hands back into his lap. Hinata glanced at me timidly as she gasped for a porcelain cup as well, sipping it modestly.

Eyeing my expression deliberately, the man raised a thick brow, every bit of his leathery skin folding into wrinkles. "Neji? What would you say to joining me?" He asked politely, guessing my answer with ease.

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I took in all of my surroundings, calculating, as he panted hurriedly in sync with me. His eyes flicked to every twitch I made and focused back on my feet each time. His byakugon was inactive, just as it was with his daughter.

If he hadn't known all of my weaknesses, as well as the byakugon's, I would surpass him, his age now a handicap. Though, still, he made it difficult to find a soft spot in any of his defence.

Thinking before every move I made, I kept my pearl-colored irises centered perfectly on the threat before me, in turn keeping check on his chakra. Nothing out of the ordinary in his chakra control, I examined his pulse as it beat erratically. He was defending, not attacking.

A droplet of salty moisture inched the curve of my cheek, falling faster as gravity pulled hard, it bowed under my chin. I dully noted its disappearance in the back of my mind as I clashed with my uncle at the exact moment. Both of us held kunai in each hand.

As soon as I had come so close, I knew that I was incapable of looking away for a moment. That was all it would take. The second a distraction took my attention it would be over.

I shifted my weight to my back foot, my sturdy stand faltering for a instant as my left foot flashed out from beneath me, striking the back of Hisashi's knee. All of his weight pressed on the weakened joint, letting him fall forward. The Hyuuga leaders milky, pallid eyes opened a fraction of an inch as he let his guard fall in a moment of feebleness, kunai clattering uselessly into the dirt.

My tight fists rested at his throat, black metal knifes in both, the two of them crossed over each other, clasped as close to his Adam's apple as possible without drawing blood. His skin dipped at the points of the shining black metal. Just a small, quick scissor-like action and pint after pint could pour from jugular.

The though was satisfying...

I heard Hinata gasp to my left, almost as if she could hear my thoughts, and a monochromatic cup and saucer clattered to the wooden floor. I resisted the urge to blink and turn to look at her, the spar was not yet finished.

Hisashi raised his hands in defeat, too many emotions to pick apart coating his face in an odd expression. I withdrew my weapons, dropping them back into their pouch and offered my uncle a hand. His gaze did not leave my face as he stared hard into my eyes.

"Your getting old and senile, Hisashi-sama." I said, a horrible attempt at mock horror dripping from my words. I leaned back, using his weight to balance me in pulling him to his feet. The man only stared back at me, almost like he was seeing me for the first time. I was not all too proud to say that this had been the first time I had defeated the Hyuuga Family leader, there was no question as to why he appraised me in such a way.

I followed slowly as he made his way back under the awning around the length of the veranda. He took his place in front of the tray and gazed over at his daughter picking up the dropped cup and placing it back on the silver platter.

As I knelt to pick the tray up, I glanced over Hinata, mild shock covered her features. A fist to her chin, her index and middle fingers grazing her lips in contemplation. In the short instant that I looked into her identical silvery irises she glanced quickly to mine, looking away just as fast at our contact.

Hisashi nodded to the dark-haired kunoichi discussing with her patterns and techniques - as if it would help - telling her of his insolence in our brief spar. I stood and turned, listening intently as their words faded with the distance.

A smile spread glacially across my lips and I continued forward with nonchalance. I held back a chuckle, retaining my pride at where it now stood.

Insolence was just the right word.

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M'kay, so, this is my second, only my second, time writing from first person point of view. I'm not very sure if I portrayed Neji right, if I didn't please tell me and I'll fix it and make it better in the next chapter. I'm not sure how may chapters any of my stories will have, but I'll see when I get there.

I really hope that you all like my writing. I do try my best. Please tell me what you think. (That means review. I'm not even sure anyone is reading what I write.)

-Eureka-chan


	2. Unidentifiable

Chapter Two: Unidentifiable

So, this would be the second chapter. I'm truly sorry if this does not turn out how you expect it, but please, do leave reviews for me. It fuels my want to write. I'm not getting any at all and it doesn't help me feel the need to post new chapters (even if this is only the second one).

This always seems to be where I mess up, the second chapter is usually the rough patch for me, but, if you still enjoy it, then I am glad to hear it, and I would like to... so REVIEW. =]

**Disclaimer:**I do not own Naruto, the anime or the manga, or even the songs or any of it, though this plot and this story belongs to me just as Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

Do enjoy.

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As with every morning, I woke early, sitting cross legged on the tatami mats of my room as I looked out the one side of my room covered entirely with windows. Flaming rays shone through the glass, casting twinkling rainbows on my night pants. I rubbed my face hard with both hands, pushing the weariness out of my head.

Vaulting myself from the cushioned sleeping mat that I called a bed, I stretched, yawning grudgingly at the lighting sky. My muscles did not ache, I noted dully, not sure if that was good or bad.

I searched in my chest of drawers for a shirt to throw on, a timid knock disrupting me from my hunt. Forcing myself to resist a sigh, my fingers absently found the indention of my door handle as I came upon the screen and slid it open.

Hinata looked down at her dancing toes just as I saw her before me in the threshold, her hands tight behind her back as I stared down at her. Glancing up shyly, she averted her eyes from me and as a draft from the open door hit my skin, I knew why. The heiress' face meeting my bare chest wasn't exactly a comforting sight to see of her cousin.

Silence rattled through the branch house coders, mocking the flustered kunoichi mercilessly and I did not move to cover myself.

"I-I was wondering," She began in a small voice, "If you would like... any help in the kitchen this morning." Her identical irises met mine and she bowed her head to the ground again, her arm muscles flexing as she clamped her hands closer together in anticipation.

It took me less than a second to process this and reply. "No," I stated, the sound of my voice leaving the declaration open-ended. I paused just long enough that her eyes found mine, almost alarmingly stricken. Two seconds was the amount of time that her gaze lingered before they drifted off to something I'd figure she thought more interesting.

There had been plenty of time to see the hurt buried in her silvery irises. "...I do not mind, Hinata-sama, but it is not you job to make morning tea and breakfast for Hisashi-sama." I finished blandly, sounding as polite as I could manage.

I'd never thought it fair that I felt I had to succumb to be amenable to someone that I saw did not deserve it. Saving her feelings made me feel utterly powerless to her will.

While I spoke, the dark-haired kunoichi's gaze floated over the objects in my room before they made it to my lips, resting there, they did not move.

"H-Hai, Neji-niichan... but, it will be my duty to day, too... If you don't mind!" Hinata spoke quietly, stumbling hastily over her words as she stuttered and half shouted the added ending to her sentence. I wanted to role my eyes; to slam the door shut in her face and relish in her whimpering at the way that she talked to me. I could tell that she was doing her best to make it not seem like and order, and it only angered me further.

I sighed inwardly, listening to her bewildered babble as my mind fluttered aimlessly for another reason for her not to help. Was it such a crime to not want to be around her that she now had to take it into her own hands to be around _me_?

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The eggs popped and sizzled harshly as I shook the pan, stirring them with the spatula in my left hand. The scent wafted quickly through the air and I breathed in their smell graciously. In my annoyance of the girl at my back, I focused solely on the making of the food, ignoring the clatter and clang of tea cups, the continence of which was hot tea.

Just as I flipped the gas burner off, the shatter of china captured my attention. Mumbled apologies and soft curses filled the silence that rang throughout the kitchen and I turned slowly to face Hinata, pan left be on the burner.

Her milky eyes glanced around the cool marble floor seeing the extent of the damage as she bent to the charcoal stone flooring. The small cup lay in pieces at her feet, shards dotted between each of the larger chunks. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..." She whispered to me, feeling my eyes on the back of her head. Her long blue hair created a curtain around her body and face covering her sullen expression from my view.

I huffed in frustration, acknowledging her for the first time since our entrance into the kitchen. It was loud enough for her to hear and she ducked her head further from my eyes in shame. Her arms worked briskly to pluck the larger pieces into her hands.

I walked to her side in grievance, relishing the peace that once was. As I knelled to the floor across from her, she made the effort to avoid my contact, at no complaint by me. "I've got it, Neji-niichan. Please, don't worry with my fault." The kunoichi said despairingly, her monochromatic irises reaching mine sternly for a faction of a second.

My hands snatched themselves half way back to my chest as she grasped the chunk I had begun to reach for. And, as I now watched mercilessly, straighting my legs to stand erect, her bitterness served her well as a sliver gouged itself in her index finger.

A painful gasp escaped her lips as she pinched her finger between her other thumb and pointer, eliciting a droplet of blood. I offered her no help as she stared wildly at the sharp particle sticking at an angle from her skin.

I wanted to scold her for being so dense; to ask her how hard it is to carry a few cups to the table. We had been up for a total of twenty-two minutes together and she was beyond wearing on my nerves. Her gentle 'sorrys' and 'thank you's, the aversion of her eyes from mine and the careful way the she placed herself and moved around me. It was suddenly amazing how I had put up with her for so long until now.

Treading to the medicine cabinet in the bathroom down the hallway to the left of the stove, I came back with a small box in hand. I threw the cardboard prism her way, not bothering with a second glance as it landed and slid to her right side where she was, still on the floor.

And yet, no matter how maddening her habits were to me, it was my duty to be her cousin, despite how pitiful and powerless she was in this world.

I placed the eggs onto a plate, reaching for a golden platter to carry them on as I handled the two tea cups onto the shining gold as well. My eyes drifted to the clock, the hands only reading 6:47.

"Niichan," My brow furrowed as I heard the name, fingers clenching tighter around the handles of the tray. Hinata's voice a rather strong whisper. "I-Is there something that you don't like... about me?" The girl's pitch fell as she continued her sentence, dropping to where I could just barley make out her words.

I gritted my teeth, understanding the depth of the question. I didn't answer her for a full minute, but I turned to face her. Her soft eyes stared hard at her index finger as she prodded the plastic material around the small wound. The box of opened band-aids sat on the breakfast table to her right, a cartoon cow glaring back at me with a lazy grin on it's cover, mocking me briskly.

"No," I replied shortly, avoiding the full discussion that the pregnant question could produce. The dark-haired girl answered me with a quick nod, her eyebrows coming together dolefully. I watched her lips part as she began to say more, but they snapped shut justly.

"Why would there be something about Hinata-sama that I did not like?" My words betrayed me in my weakness to her expression, leaving my mouth without a second thought. And, once the words were there, I could not bring them back.

The clear, pallid sweetness of her irises turned themselves on me as she looked at me in wonder. I felt a frown crease across my brow at her gaze, her eyes touching the hard mask I covered my features with to escape her judgement. Her fair lips pulled at the corners, just enough to understand the emotion it portrayed, her glowing silvery orbs becoming a fraction smaller in her friendly smile.

The golden shining tray on the counter at my back flashed through my mind and I turned to take it into my hands, my coffee hair sweeping my arms and sending more shivers up my spine. As I took the full weight of the platter into my hands, I carried it at a casual pace down the hallway and into the Main branch house for it to be served, leaving Hinata in her silence once more.

The shocking feeling; the untainted emotion I now felt coursed through my muscles, almost like the feel of adrenaline. It was unplaceable, something I had never felt before that was caused by a smile from my cousin, a smile that had previously been unseen to my eyes.

This disturbance was unlike anything known to me, something foreign and odd through my veins. I couldn't tell if it was exhilarating or something that should be plainly agitating.

My brain worked in haste, finding a title for this electric emotion, labeling it into the recess of my mind as unknown.

Unidentifiable.

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So, is it as vile as I'm thinking that it is? Please tell me what you think and what I need to improve on. It will help me greatly in the next chapter. (Just a click of a button and a couple words would be nice.)

Also, for those of you who have commented on this chapter that was once ungraciously wrote, I have finally fixed the montrosity that it was. I even reread it, though I may have missed a lot and I am sorry if i did. But, here it is. Much better than it was before.

-Eureka-chan.


	3. Identical

Chapter Three: Identical

Yay! Chapter three! Thanks to all of you who are reading, I am now able to understand the wonderful use of story traffic to see that Sobokusa is not as unpopular as I had assumed. I am only hoping that some will not be so lazy and will leave REVIEWS. Thank you to the few who have. I appreciate it greatly. And Also, thank you to those of you who have favorited and alert-ed Sobokusa. You are all keeping me encouraged to continue.

Sadly. I'm not sure that this will have more than two more chapters after this. Though, I am completely unsure. I would like to hear if you wish for me to drag it out, which might, only might, mean shorter chapters (Though not by much.). Or, if you would like me to keep it short and sweet with possibly longer chapters. I would really love to know your opinion about everything.

**Disclaimer:** If you don't know already, Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto just as this story, it's plot and wording, belongs to me (HeartsSalvation).

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A chilling wind entered through the branches of the skeleton trees, dancing with ease around the bark and into the clearing of where I stood. Animals hissed at my footsteps, giving the impression that I was not at all welcome. The patter of their paws confirmed this as they ran into the sea of dead, chestnut-colored leaves.

The dying blades of dull brown crunched noisily at my feet, wind whistling just as loud in my ear. I welcomed the distraction greatfully, breathing the chilled night air until I could take no more. My lungs froze, accepting the generous supply of oxygen leisurely.

Crickets sang engaging fall songs, echoing in the square court yard magically. The cacophony was breathtaking as it bounded off the walls encompassing me. And yet, the chirping did not block out all things.

Her presence did not go without notice and it was hard to say that I did not mind. I tried to use all my time ignoring her company, eluding myself from as much contact as necessary. She respected my unsaid want to be left alone, watching me shyly in the white-washing rays of the bold moonlight.

A brief two days ago I began to regard her as if she were not near me, hoping that she would leave quickly if I did. But, to my dismay it never happened.

My eyes closed abruptly and I drew another deep inhalation of ozone, feet distancing themselves from one another as I took a sturdy stand, knees bent slightly. I could see the white shine of the moon glowing blindingly through my eyelids as I pushed the air before me away, my arms pumping forward, palms open, in docile rhythm. With each onset of the gaseous particles, I snorted air from my lungs.

My defensive stand fell and I took a step, more leaves crunching underfoot. A dance stared to the music of silence, and my menacing strikes became gentle thrusts and slices guided liquidly by only stance. My movements were precise and swift as I poured my chakra fiercely into the unseen enemies about me, dodging their kunai and jutsu abruptly.

They surrounded me, pacing into a tighter circle with each of their minute steps, I imagined their caution apparent in they way the balled fist shook. My right knee bent as they came unsteadily closer, not at all sure what to prepare for, my head dipping as I hid an impish smirk from their weary eyes. Extending each of my arms, my right arm backwards, the other forward and down, I anticipated their distance.

'Hakkeshou Kaiten!'

Cold sweat raced the length of my back and my skin tightened in an effort to keep myself warm from the cool night. My spiraling pace began to slow and I came back to reality gradually, my opponents fading from my thoughts. My breathing slowed, heartbeat falling to normal rate as I gathered my thoughts.

And yet, all the while, Hinata had not left. She sat, her weight evenly across her calves as I stepped back to the veranda, heading for the door to escape her residence without a glance to her. I cringed as I brushed past her, eyes narrowing as I felt the heat coming from her in waves, just inches from my leg.

Barely had I made it there, to the door, and I felt her angle her head in my direction, my hand just reaching for the slot handle before she called after me.

"Neji-niichan. You... wouldn't mind... training with me, w-"

"Hinata-sama, it is late at night. Should you not be in bed now?" I asked casually, facing her with a sharp glare. Her face stayed pivoted at my own as her gaze wandered elsewhere. She gulped softly, a nod shaking her body.

I circled back around entering the Hyuuga compound without fully closing the conversation, sliding the screen shut at my back.

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Searing steam rose in spirals sheathed by chilled air in comparison, curling over the glass doors, already fogging the crystal windows that stood at my side as I shuffled out of my clothes. My night pants quickly pooled around my feet and I briskly took a stride to slide the door open, entering under the boiling hot water.

I shivered vigorously letting my straight, coffee hair cling to the muscles of my back as I faced the raining water bluntly. The droplets ran the curves and contours of my arms and abdomen as I extended a hand before me, pushing it against the frigid marble of the shower walls.

Vapor turned to liquid, gliding with gravity to cascade over the arc of the bold, clay-colored tiles under my hand. Each of my fingers arched as I let my head fall, thick braids of my charcoal tresses, drenched with water, draping around my shoulders and cheeks.

A huff released itself from my lungs, my brow furrowed in animosity. My nails dug into the solid marble, clawing their way down each of the crevasses before it fell with the weight of my arm.

Why was everything so different than it had been just three days ago?

Her brilliant eyes glinted eagerly into my identical irises, a smile lighting her fair, pink lips and I averted my gaze to the cartoon cow on the band-aid box, his foolish grin unleashing tormented anguish through my veins.

Blood ran to my cheeks, dusting lightly as I looked back to the kunoichi, her glowing features distracting me. Instantly, I had remembered that the tray was at my back and I dashed off with it in hand as indifferently as I could manage.

Such an innocently sweet smile I had never seen before, especially from my cousin. It was difficult to imagine a time when she had smiled so happily before.

Every look she gave me, even if she looked away; the small grazes that now made my skin tingle; the hasty apologies after. She was the same as she was before. What was it that had changed?

A pang of sharp, blazing agony splintered through my knuckles, searing through my hand and up my arm. I opened my white eyes, glaring profusely at the depression left in the slick, dewed marble around my fist. I cringed looking at the blood beginning to speckle through the cuts that glowered angrily back at me.

We were nothing to one another other than blood relatives; I her ordered protector, she the bratty little chap that got her every whim!

My teeth unconsciously ground together, my body moving forward to push my forehead against the chilled tile, cooling my body. I sighed breathily into the smooth marble palms flat on the surface by my face.

It was some time later and the spray turned icy, I realized I had lost all track of time in my frozen position. Hugging myself around my chest, I twisted the faucet handle with a flick of my wrist, successfully cutting off the flow of water.

My thoughts followed suit.

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It was early the next morning and I watched the sun rise above the horizon glacially, all clouds that flitted in the sky scowling a cross scarlet. My ivory orbs took in the ironic beauty of the heavens at I leaned uncomfortably against the adjacent wall from the glass-covered surface.

A loving sanctuary my room had become and I unconsciously took it upon myself to stay locked into it, loving the abundant peace and silence that reined inside. I neglected to awake solely for the purpose of being the cook, easing my body to rest as I pleased, allowing Hinata to be the maid for the day.

She had taken up the morning breakfast job with myself, unbeknownsed to her father, and stayed at my side helping with what little she could. I strove to bypass that today, evading her plentiful mews of apologies when she did something that she thought I saw unacceptable. Not that I didn't think it so. The many things that she did were such.

Her pitiful mewls and bows as if she was along side me in the branch. If she wanted to be such, I would gladly take her place and she, mine. The whining pup would fit perfectly into the stereotype; supposedly weak, though the rule remained broken as I stood; servants, though I was order as such, I was not at heart as the kunoichi was; and sacrifices, of which she could easily become.

Foot falls mirrored hollowly down the hall, slowly coming upon my room, I knew.

"Nii-chan..." Hinata tested timidly from outside of my room as she slid the door an inch to peer in, her fingers gingerly clasping onto the frame of the threshold. Hinata's pallid irises danced, searching for me before they focused on my rigid form, her soft lips parted.

I ground my teeth together, glancing sideways at her lone eye through the crack in the door; at the way her fair, pink lips closed around each other... I snapped my gaze away from her looking back to my hands folded in my lap, palms laxly facing me.

A delicate foot fell on the tatami mats of my corders and I averted my attention even farther, looking out to the world beyond my crystal windows to avoid her fragile, feminine figure that I only seemed to notice more and more.

"N-Neji-niichan? Are... you alright?" The dark haired kunoichi tried again, taking another gentle step in my direction, a hand grasping her chest, the other outstretched to me, though her arm stayed bent against her breast. I winced in harsh fury at the though of facing her.

But, I did.

I turned my monochromatic eyes glacially to her, taking in her expression. The subtle way her eyebrows came together, creasing her brow in a sweet frown; her glowing silver orbs focused solely on me, twinkling with worried sorrow; the way her dark hair draped over her dainty shoulders, flowing, midnight ribbons; her child-like fingers curled softly into a fist above her heart.

My gaze trailed the length of her body slowly taking in her cautious approach and I realized I couldn't - I didn't - want to look away from her. Why didn't I want to look away?

"H-Hinata-sama..." I sighed breathily, almost in complete annoyance, closing my eyes from her form in resent, wrinkles folding over my forehead. My fingers coiled in on each other, knuckles becoming a ghostly white as I bound them closer together.

"H...Hai... Neji-niichan...?" The heir came closer, step by little baby step, inching to my side. Her hands both fell in front of her stomach, her fingers hooked around the others at the joints.

Drawing a shuttering breath, my eyes found hers and I unhinged my jaw, taking a slow rise from the floor to stand before the kunoichi. I looked down sharply at the girl, fighting both of the emotions that boiled under my skin.

_Her_ skin... so soft and supple.

I raised my hand from my side, lifting it unhurried over her shoulder. My fingers itched to caress the unblemished surface of her cheek; yelled at me to float a fingertip over the slight curve of her jaw line.

My hand found the material the clung to her clavicle, tense as I let it lie justly on the tender muscle so close to her neck. My eyebrows knit together a fraction. "Hinata-sama," Her eyes lit at her name as she waited for me to speak, attention on my frozen lips. "Please, leave... It is best if you go now."

My left arm sheathed closely to my side, muscles flexing wildly as I watched the heir's eyes drop to her feet in despair. I bit my tongue as an apology danced across my taste buds and her hands dropped limply to her hips. "Hai, Nii-chan. Sorry, I... just wanted to make sure that you wer-"

I listened to her shocked, hushed gasp, identical orbs widening noticeably as my index finger rested under her chin, quickly leading her face to my eyes. I stared back at her, beginning to close the distance between her and myself, the corners of my mouth lifting imperceptibly at the pink that dusted her cheeks. Hinata's focus shifted from my advance to the windows in my room and my nose crinkled, my finger falling as if scalded by a hot pan.

I took a hasty step away from my cousin, ashamed of my actions, biting my lower lip acridly and diverting my scrutiny to the mat-of-a-bed on my right that suddenly need to be made up. It's perfectly untouched, crisp sheets gave me reason to move from the heat the pulsed from her body, coaxing my skin into bumps, despite the warmth.

"Excuse me, Hintata-sama... I-It is just very unbecoming to not look someone in the eye as you speak." I stuttered dumbly, spewing the first excuse that came to mind. Silence again rang deftly through the opened door; in my room, my heartbeat now racing for no visible reason.

Feeling the girl's bashful eyes on me, I bent to the base of my bed letting my hands glide across the creases and wrinkles that were not there. "I... think that it is best that you leave now." My voice articulated perfectly stern in the shell of my ears.

I listened blindly to the door close as she left without complaint, my breathing echoing wildly in my ears through the ominous quiet that screeched so deafeningly clear.

Wasn't it all just same? This... cat and mouse kind of game? Fighting back and forth, moving forward, but always moving back, never getting anywhere other than the place that you were?

And, I knew that it was. If even it was only a fine line, there was no difference in anything that I felt, the emotions that threatened to show, if only before myself.

A fine line that promised to diminish until all that was left was alike; all of it identical.

Just as we both were, through it all.

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So, some end notes for those of you who are wondering, or for those of you who do not know: Hakkeshou Kaiten is translated into english as: Eight Divination Palms of the Hand, Heavenly Spin. This is the attack that Neji uses quite a few times in the anime, is you have been keeping up. It is, surprisingly to myself, since it involves the use of chakra, a taijustu (hand to hand) technique unique to the Hyuuga bloodline using Jyuuken.

(Jyuuken is the technique most commonly used by the Hyuuga in fighting while the Byakugon is intact. Used to strike the opponents chakra points, halting the flow of their chakra.)

Hah, just a little information for those that don't know that way I don't confuse you. ( I really didn't want to have to explain what Neji was doing after he said 'Hakkeshou Kaiten' in his mind. It would have been very hard to explain, so I left you with a hint that he was spinning, at least.)

Okay, enough of the rambling. Please tell me what you think. I am dying for reviews. I worked my butt off on this chapter trying to finish it quickly for xoayamexo's not-so-subtle request. (Which, by the way, thank you for your encouragement as well, you have helped me a great deal, and also because usually I am a very lazy writer.)

Reviews would be quite, dandy if you know what I mean. (For those of you writers who have people that do not review as much as you would like, as well, you know how it feels. So, please, do me a favor and make me day.) It is strongly appreciated.

Also, am I portraying Neji's fight of emotions right? I struggled just a bit with the beginning of the last section.

-Eureka-chan.

Clicky the button right below here. It won't bite!


	4. Goals

Chapter Four: Goals

Chapy four. We're moving right along, aren't we?

I am... for lack of better words, quite excited about this one. But, really, it wrote itself. I just started with one simple thought and here it is. Please, tell me what you think. I've come to realize that, not only are a great bit of people reading, but they are favoriting as well. I thank you for this, very much, but, reviews are nice as well. I always love to know what is good about my writing and what could use a lot of work.

(I seem to get off track at times and I sincerely hope that this chapter is not one of those that does lose purpose in the whole story of Sobokusa.)

So, no more delays, and I'm sorry for the long wait for this one. So... We shall be on with it... NOW. (Kind of.)

**Disclaimer**: Do you know yet? Naruto is not mine. But it shall be. Oh... _it will_. (Naruto is Masashi Kishimoto's and is in no way owned by me, including the characters. Though Sobokusa, its plot and its wording is mine and mine alone.)

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I went unconscious to my thoughts, glaring down at the midnight blue sheets, so close to the color of her hair, and I felt the power; the chakra force itself into my eyes. My temples became tightly riveted with pulsing veins, straining to keep the clear, abnormal vision in my line-pupiled eyes.

The dull human hearing of my ears could not find the thumping of Hinata's gentle steps as she continued farther down the hall. But, opposed to my hearing, my sight reached with ease beyond excellency. The ability to see straight through objects was a prized feat, of not only myself, but of all the Hyuuga.

My byakugan swept fervently through tens of blurred walls before my attention came to her frozen form, and I calculated her distance just at forty-three meters, nearing the edge of my range. She stood rigid at the entrance of the bland kitchen, just before she stepped out onto the veranda and I watched her intently as her gaze met mine, though she could not see me as I could her.

It was unsettling, her staring back at me was though she knew I was watching. And, slowly; steadily, her hand came to her face, two fingers extended, touching her lips, white in my vision. The kunoichi's expression was thoughtful, and yet dazed. She stood just longer, letting her lips part as if to talk before she circled back around, reaching for the sliding door and exiting quickly.

Hinata stalked with ease out of my fifty meter range and I glared, absorbed at the spot where she walked from my exceptional view, fighting to let go of the image and maybe even symbolism before I let the veins fade into smooth skin around my eyes once more.

My teeth connected, clamping stiffly together in my mouth as the muscles in my jaw protested at the stinging twinge throbbing just below my earlobe. I exhaled and ignored my faulty human hearing when the breath sounded shaky. I cursed my ears as they sold me false sounds of weary weakness.

Letting my balance fail me, gravity plucked me from the air to the cushion of my bedding. I laid in silence, my pallid eyes staring unblinking at the caramel varnish of my ceiling, searching it's flat surface for the answers that escaped my reason.

Answers of and for what, my mind told me not.

I moved my hands behind my head, my legs crossing each other at the ankles, eyes half-lidded as I let my mind drift to things not unknown to me.

Missions were becoming little and far in between and my stay around the compound was, in retrospect, becoming longer and more pronounced. I suddenly felt the need to be away from the confining walls of the Hyuuga residence. To breathe fresh air not tainted by the lungs of the high seated Main family.

I grimaced at the though. How had I actually left myself to live under the same roof of the very people whose existence had caused my misery? Their deceit and lies continuing to flow freely from their mouths like water from a leaky faucet. Scoffing loudly, I watched the illusion in my mind. They stood before me now, each on their hands and knees groveling for all they were worth, their tales ringing in my ears as I closed my eyes sharply as if to silence them from wasting their breath. If only they knew an ounce of what I felt; of what I'd been through, maybe then they could understand my feelings toward them.

Hinata as well. Running around in a world that she saw was all rainbows and ponies. People scattered here and there to bow to her will at a moments notice. She lived in peace; slept great at night seeing the world from candy-coated glasses. Everyone happy; all smiles as she waltzes into the room.

I question if that was really how she wished to view the world. A child's world, it was, and nothing more than a quickly fleeting dream.

They _all_ slept comfortably in their beds at night. Living on top of the world, so high on their horses that they thought even gravity could never bring them down.

And, yet, I have left myself to their piranha teeth, standing in the same spot as my father had, my feet obeying master's command without conscious force to run from it; to fight back. And, I had made the bed I slept in with no way of undoing the folds and creases of the permanently tucked sheets.

I could only help but not feel tied to the hip by Hinata, following her father's order as protector, though I could not save her from her failures; the many she faced. I was grateful that that much was untouchable by the safety wall I had become, so unseen by myself, even as I had clearly watched it happen, stepping before her to barricade the way.

Was it _I _who felt obligated to stay under ties? By whose wish and whose command? Surely it was not I.

_Fa..ther...? Father..._

_"Do you see there...?" _The man's voice asked of me, I rested my hands as the base of my head and took a long gaze at the night sky, my pallid eyes following his finger as it traced lines into a cluster of stars. "That is the Big Dipper."

I turned my head in my hands, my cheek falling into my palm, facial expression bland as I looked at the man to my right. "Otou-san, why are we just staring at the stars? Did you not promise me a spar tonight?" I asked impatiently, though I kept a straight respectful tone to my father.

His identical irises met mine and I did not look away, riveted by the softness they both held. "If you go through life oblivious to everything, will you notice anything? No matter what it may be, Neji, even if you strive just for one goal, do not lose sight of everything around you. Especially not someone or something you hold dear to you."

My eyes wondered still over the wrinkling plans of his so human skin. But, he was a man of no age to me; immortal in his son's eyes, never able to leave the face of this earth. But, would life be life if all good things did not come to an end?

My eyes found their way to the glittering sky above once more, unaware of the future and it's tragedies, and I kicked my feet, one crossing the other at the ankle. "But, stars are not important to me."

Something just short of a cough echoed to my right, but I did not stray to see what it was. It grew louder with time and carried easily into the wind as I lie still, eyes dancing in around the clouds that blocked my view. Out of the corner of my eyes, my father's body rocked violently, his torso jerking him into convulsions.

As it fell into a wheeze, I listened harder, a smirk lighting my lips as my father began to form words instead of mocking laughter. "My son, the stars are important to _everyone_. Even if you do not know it. The things you hold before you, these... simple 'stars' that we call them, they _are_ our past." His voice was incredulous as I looked back over the sparkle specked blanket.

I felt my brow furrow, a deep frown creasing into my forehead. My lip raised as if to scoff harshly, but I would serve no such disrespect the man who began my life. "How are twinkling specks our past? They are not even near us, how are we all related to such things so far away?"

A small child's hand blurred my vision of the tail of the Big Dipper as I thrust my hand before me for emphasis, each of my fingers stretching to grasp the shining pin-points of light; to curl around them and pull them into my chubby hand's grasp. "They are mere dots, Otou-san."

"Mere dots, they may seem, but what you see as you look at them is all in the past. The distance is so great that as we look at them now, the light that they shine for us is years upon years old, dear Neji." His voice was calm and soothing; the voice of a wise man who knew the world and all its cruelties.

I understand more now than I ever could have at such a tender age.

My brow wrinkled again as I tried to comprehend his reasoning. I nodded once shortly glaring at the little spots as it began to piece together. I pulled my dimpled hand back from the chilled night air. "But, why is it so old, this light they give off now?"

"Easily - it takes years to travel the great distance to here for our eyes to see. I bet that the light you see now is the light for the exact second you were born." I couldn't see him on such a perfectly dark evening the way I could see him on a clear day, but I new that as he spoke there was some special light in his eyes, and it came from the past, just as the glow of night did.

My gaze lingered, blinking absently as I soaked in the depth of his words, try desperately to grasp his morals to no avail. At that time, I remembered wishing I could have - even if just a small share - a part of what he knew; what he'd seen and felt. Just to know what he's been through.

Wouldn't it come all too soon? And I wasted a child's life seeking and lusting for things that I should not have, and it came faster than I should. Had fate blessed me so harshly with the wish that I asked? Given me my wantings and harsh worldly knowledge wrapped neatly with a bow on top?

My father's face slipped from my memory, fading into the distant past as though he never were. The thought of him was so far it seemed as though it was never real; his voice, the one that I had heard countless times, its sound lost forever in the wind of the ever-churning world. Now a man of no place but drifting through the heavens.

Running, galloping feet sprinted down the hall, hurtling almost clumsily closer and closer to my door. I listened half-hearted as they footfalls came and stopped briefly before the threshold, eyes closed from the sorry world around me, enjoying the utopia of mind.

"N-Niichan...!" A once soft, gentle voice to my senses forced loudly, panting in at erratic pace that had kept time with each step. She had already busted through my door and I listened to her pleading voice as earthly thoughts found me again. "Niichan! Otou-sama! I-It's Otou-sama!" The dark haired kunoichi burst fervently.

"Hinata-sama," My eyes widened in understanding as I rose to seating position, my stern voice mirroring my fiercely piercing eyes as I flung myself swiftly from the floor. Shinning crimson shown black across her delicate, snowy pale hands, running the front of her clothes, as well. The metallic substance melted each of my five senses, activating the adrenaline into my system in a breadth of time.

"Please, tell me what has happened, Hinata-sama." I said, managing a calm front. I found my hands fixed firmly on her shoulders, milky orbs hard on her hands as I watched them convulse vigorously.

"Neji," Whispering almost inaudibly, she dropped the honorific and I winced at the angry plainness of the word from her mouth. "Otou-sama... He was... on the ground, lying in blood... His blood..." The heir's pearly irises glazed over, lost in another space and time as I gazed bleakly back at her.

_'So... much...'_ Her mouth formed, lacking the wind of her childlike voice.

The pungent taste of metal lingered, still fresh in my mouth.

Night turned brightly to day, pricking my adjusted sight painfully. The sun rained scorching down from perfectly overhead and white; sweet and innocent, blurred my vision. I glared, squinted through the shocking light at the blank, unblemished ivory just before me. My eyes searched desperately, hurrying to find anything to focus attention on, proceeding over the blank color repetitively.

Chromatic flavors came to my eyes, ebbing at the edges of my vision as if I looked through a scope and was now pulling back into the iridescent life.

Dark, luscious blue accented the pallid color beautifully, stark and lovely against the chalky sun-washed surroundings.

I stood tall and proud over a crowd; no, a gathering of people, so much like me, yet so different in all their rights. Their facial features mirrored mine - all smiling in excitement up at me as I glowered down in awe at them - and the girl who stood in front of my chest, her wistful irises glowing madly as she gazed lovingly up to me.

The blush of her cheeks was stunning in contrast to her ghostly skin, only more evident in the beaming rays, her silvery eyes eliciting tears, albeit happy. I saw this, looking to her beautiful pink lips, the corners of them unashamedly lifting, hinting her joy, were parted and growing red with anticipation. Words began to echo in my ears. Her rosen lips moved slowly, carefully forming one sweet word without hesitation.

_'Yes.'_

"And do you, Hyuuga Neji, take the Hinata as you lawfully wedded wife...?" A man's voice said into the shell of my ear, directly to my right. Words failed me and I could not comprehend the events.

Angry, furious pulsing red had filled my sight until it was bleached a brilliant white, splintering my orbs sharply.

"I..." The sound was but a whisper of wind, and no one but the two people closest to me could here it. I felt my brow crease, frowning thickly as my mouth unhinged, just slightly agape. It was a rush, the disappearance of a possible adrenaline-filled fight to the honeyed surrounding of where I now stood.

My blood cousin, beautiful in the flawless white wedding gown, staring up at me blissfully, her skin flustered a dashing pink, gorgeously grinning through her crystal tears, played the part of the blushing bride to impeccability. It was sinful for her to be so...

My lungs began to collapse on me, and I realized I had held my breath for far to long, my heart racing crazily, pulsing rapidly in both of my ears, my hands fading slowly from feeling, clamy and cold.

In an unexpected short moment, spots, flaming in circles, brighter than the sun itself cleared the sight of my cousin before me.

White-washed sight fading in and out, I heard multiple gasps as the ground rushed to me me.

_Black, silent darkness. Still, dead, soundless night._

_...Welcome._

Carmel varnish attacked my pupils as my eyes flashed through the midnight black into the dawn of day. My hands clawed at the covers that lay across my chest, my breathing regulating after holding dearly to one breath, pulse blasting in both of my ears.

I forced myself up, glaring at the wall across from me wide-eyed as my fingers curled around the edges of my sheets. I flipped them from over my legs and watched as they landed in a heap at my feet.

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Stepping out into the mid-day sun, I felt the instant wave of heat knock the breath from me. My eyes adjusted wearily, focusing on the empty courtyard beaten profusely by the scalding rays of the giant star above. My feet carried me forward and I stood at the edge of the veranda, soaking in the orange light as I closed my milky irises from the harsh glow.

Skin tingling from the exposure to the warming star, I fell back into the shadows of the wooden-paneled walkway and tread to the gate of the Hyuuga compound, sidling my one-strap pack on my back. I put on my black sandals, straightened my robe as I stood, and exited through the gate.

Walking toward the sun, the rays blasting down into my line of vision, easily handicapping my sight as I continued through the thick throng of Konoha people. The Market was forever busy each morning, and I could just see the silhouettes of the people before me as I squinted through the blaring light.

And, my shadow followed groggily at my feet.

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I had been seeking an end to my bewildered state, searching endlessly for something that I could not find elsewhere, but here. Around my own blood.

And, this was my battle; my confrontation with fate.

My pack fell from my fingers, tickling the tips as it dropped to the dry ground. I listened to my feet thud dully on the sparsely grass-covered ground, my arms stiff at my sides as I strode further into the training ground clearing. I did not pay any mind to the kunoichi to my left as I emerged deeper into the clearing, though I felt her eyes timidly on me.

I could feel her following me, her white irises shyly lapping at my side; my tied hair billowing out behind me from the wind, and she watched as I became in line with her, across the way, her attention heavy on both of my feet.

I placed my hands before me, palms forward, as I glared intently at Hinata, my eyes focused solely on her own as she stared back in mild horror. Her eyebrows up turned her two lips parted sweetly in a question.

_"Niichan...?"_I watched her mouth the single word, her eyes dropping to watch the swaying blades of green at her feet as she felt the rage of my eyes directed on her.

"Was it not you, Hinata-sama, that had asked for a spar?" I asked indifferently as her pallid irises found mine once more. Her expression changed easily to confusion as she searched my face for answers that she could not seem to find. She nodded sharply once, one strand of her hair falling from its position across her narrow shoulder.

A smirk touched my lips and I did not bother to push the emotion from showing across my face. "Ne, Hinata-sama?" I whispered to myself.

My balance shifted quickly, my toes digging into the dirt for leverage as I bent my knees in a defensive stance. I was dully aware of her eyes widening fractionaly as I charged at my dark haired cousin. Her milky orbs could only just focus on my hasty movements, barely keeping up with my body as I sped toward her. She was not expecting the breakneck speed.

As well, she was not expecting the pain.

An ear-splitting hiss echoed off the trees about us, richocheing painfully back to my ears as my flat palm struck her diaphragm, a hollow crunch jarring my locked arm. Unphased, I blinked blankly as her body crumbled limply ten feet from her original position at the end of my limb, the feeling of her tight abdomen fading from my thoughts.

Seconds ticked rapidly by and I froze, regulating my labored breathing, watching intently as her head jerked up, an arm reaching across her stomach in an effort to hold in the breathtaking, pounding burn.

Hinata'slegs pushed her back, kicking her a short distance away from where she had landed to bring her back against a tree. I watched, some emotion bubbling inside that I hadn't felt since my father's passing, as she feebily attempted get to her feet using the trunk as stability. One droplet of red pressed through her lips, settling in the corner of her mouth before she wiped it with her sleeve, using that hand to push off from the tree.

She panted pathetically as she looked, hurt beyond anything physical, back at me, her eyebrows upturned in pain as the droplet became as swallow of liquid in her mouth. "N-Niichan..."

"Isn't this what you wanted?" I asked harshly, my own brow creasing in anger. "This? To spend time with me, Hinata-sama?"

The kunoichi looked at me in horror once more and I dropped my stance, my fist balling at my sides, as her eyes glowed in fear. I chuckled darkly at her frightened expression, watching my lamb as the lion took a step closer to his prey.

I stood before her now, just five feet from her and the tree at her back. "This is the time with me that I will give you, the only time of mine that you deserve, and yet you waste it as a child would waste his pay on candy." I lashed out, feeling the somehow unnecessary sting of my words.

I sprinted before her, my forearm pressing her closer to the trunk by her neck. She swallowed slowly underneath my radius and I glared at her fiercely, this time without the distance to mask my hate; my anger; my pure white-hot rage.

The heir squeaked softly, mewling like the crying baby she was and I smiled in contempt at the noise. Her irises shot back at me, panic weeping from the corners in beads of salty moisture. I rose my arm, dragging her back up the bark of the tree and she whimpered pitifully again, all her weight held my my one arm at the throat under her jaw.

My eyes searched both of hers, flicking back and forth between the two. "And this is all you'll ever be worth; a sniveling pup dying on the ground."

My arm retracted and she fell to the ground with a muffled thump. I stepped back, turning from the sight of her crumpled body left in a pile, her irises reading fading fear as she stared blankly at the sky from her limp position, the pain-forced tears running to disappear in her long hair.

This was never what my father intended of me, I knew. I felt he wished me to be a good son, regardless of position, we were all blood, and should be treated as family, but, there was always a hypocrite in the family, wasn't there? It was a dying wish that would; could never come true for me.

But, I was not losing sight of my goals, and there was no one that I held dear, at least.

My pace was measured and I carelessly stalked from her presence to grab my pack, rustling material crackling at my back.

Wind whistled by me, the forced air blowing into my shoulder and neck, though I felt nothing. My suspicions were confirmed as I heard a thud from the other side of the clearing, my attention focused on a black, shinning object, its sharp point projected deep into the skin of a tree.

My head flashed around and I glared monstrously at the daring, dark haired kunoichi just twenty meters from me. She stood again, this time away from the tree on her own, her left hand still grasping her broken rips, trying fulitly to push the pain away. Her right hand dangled at her side, fingers together in a fist and her midnight locks were perfectly soft in a frame around her face.

I could hear her grasping for air slowly through her nose, and as she looked at me, her eyes no longer contained the fear that had drove my senses mad with adrenaline, but instead it was replaced with mild anger; defiance and furious misery. Her teeth clamped together and her eyes met mine for a split second.

And she whispered.

"Ready?"

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For those who don't know, and who may be wondering, the Byakugan is said to only reach a max of fifty meters of distance. I'm fairly sure that my information is correct, but if I am wrong, and you feel that it is your duty, do tell me other wise.

So? Was it in the least bit captivating as I would hope that it was. I'm so happy that this is the longest of my chapters. I was hoping that I could force out just a little more because I wish to make them longer for you. I don't like when things end so quickly, so I'm doing my best to squeeze out a little more each time. I'm really glad that its not as much of a stretch as I would have thought it would be.

As always, tell me what you think. Need improvements? _More_misspellings? Something that just doesn't add up? Neji/Hinata OC? I would especially like to know about the ending... I'm kind of if-y on it.

And, one more side note. Since school will be starting back for me on Monday, I'm not exactly sure when I'll be able to update. I'm fairly sure not as frequently as I have been lately. As well, I might already be starting another one of my paring fics to alternate between. If I only get to update once a week, I will post a chapter for both. I'm sure I'll be able to manage, I'm chopped full of idea's at the moment and am ecstatic to get start on something else.

So, will it be DeiSaku or ShikaSaku? (Two of my other current favorites. =]) Which will you choose? Do tell, do tell all.

I really hope that you enjoyed it, its getting down to it and I'm excited for the ending. (In all honesty, I don't even know how it will end. The next chapter will be action packed, and please excuse my horrible fighting scenes. (Though I will improve on it as I write the next chapter.)

-Eureka-chan.


	5. Ivory

**Sobokusa**

Chapter Five: Ivory

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When I finished this, not but ten minutes ago, I actually had to take a breath and say, "Wow. I'm actually finished..." Believe it or not, I've been working on this for about two or three months now. I only started on this idea back in the middle of math class. Umm, if you haven't noticed by just how long it took me to finish, or to get started on it as well, this was a really hard chapter for me. I didn't want anything to repeat and it kept sounding like it did, so I wrote it over and over until it fit right.

I think it still may have it's kinks, and there is not much NejiHina at all, but I tried my best for the feel of this chapter. Please tell me what you think. I think I need more reviews for this chapter than the others to be sure that I didn't waste my time on a horrible chapter.

Also, I'm going to start recommending songs to listen to before, during or after reading the chapters because it just so happens that when I listen to my iPod I find songs that fit the mood and what's going on perfectly.

I found my inspiration in A Boy Brushed Red, Living in Black and White By UnderOATH. Check it out and get on with the chappie!

Disclaimer: You know this idea and these words are mine, but the characters written about in this story, of course, do not belong to me, but, to Misashi Kishimoto.

Enjoy! :]

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A child's hand drug almost grudgingly across her mouth, excess blood dribbling from between her lips to streak ominously over her jaw. Her eyes held a dulling determination that I had yet to see in her submissive expression.

Half turned to her, my brow creased as I looked on, the sniveling girl standing before me trying my patience as I stared daringly back at her through narrowed eyes. For nothing more than a mere second, it crossed my mind that she was unaware of what she was doing, her presence just meters from me so inadequate and ragged.

The will to end it all was unbearable, itching just beneath my very skin. My very freedom from this feeling of weakness and unease; from the incompetent and unrecognized life I lead in front of me now in the face of my _dear_ cousin. To be free from the world that Destiny placed me in - from the very hands the remained only to cage me - made my muscles clench.

She was the only thing that could release me from behind those bars and I intended to acquire just that.

Turning to her fully, I let my center of balance drop to a lower point in my body as I fell back into a defencive stance, preparing myself for the attack she planned to initiate.

Hinata sprinted forward, as fast as her previously injured body could manage, and I smirked in triumph at the feebleness of her attack, knowing just how pointless it was. Didn't she know it too?

Activating my byakugan in mere seconds, I focused on the scene before me. I exhaled sharply, taking an equally acute breath as I scouted all key points of what her charge could result in. Her chakra remained normal, no build up in a certain area that could signify a Juuken attack and my eyes narrowed fractionally in return to her charge.

The girl's hand grasped eagerly for a kunai from her holster, fingering the metal ring on top before slipping it into her hand. Her white eyes were glazed over, darting about in calculation, though they centered around me.

Anxiety bubbled in my chest, anticipation following shortly after, my eyes locked on every movement the kunoichi made. Her indigo hair billowing as if a wave behind her, one strand captured between her thin-pressed, soft, pink lips. The heiress' hand shook with the pain splintering through her torso, a blood droplet at the point of her chin pelting in a splatter against her neck and fleece jacket from the force of the wind.

But, what I was more interested in was the black object she clutched - as if for dear life - between her fingers. Her knuckles were a ghostly white in my vision, but my attention was solely on the lone metal weapon, and I watched with reformed apathy as she sprinted steadily closer. Just inches in front of me, her body began closing the minute distance hastily, right arm pulling back stiffly in immanent apprehension.

I readied my Juuken in indifference as I mocked the grim line that was Hinata's lips, my palm flat in her direction, suppressed chakra fighting my control to be released. Gritting my teeth justly, I waited for the blow I knew would never come.

And, released instead the breath I held unknowingly at the feeling of impact across the whole of my shin. The infliction jarred my leg, tingling at the pulse through my veins as I steadied my shifting weight.

My eyes narrowed bitterly at the kunoichi and - quickly closing my fractionally opened mouth - I grit my teeth. I could feel her gaze on my back as snowy-shaded eyes danced in search around the suddenly small clearing, coming a 230-degrees until her figure became present. Half turned toward her, my head rest at an angle in her direction, my fingertips flickering to the leather holster around my upper thigh.

Was she truly so willing to die that she faced her own Fate so straight forward?

I held back a mocking snort, settling instead for a glare as I evaluated her status, my fingers plucking the button of my weapon holster from it's hold just before I flashed around, my arm shooting out in front of me and flinging the metal weapon in Hinata's direction.

It hurtled toward her at a motion blurred speed, but I followed the metal blade with ease, my byakugan fast on the sharp apex so close to its destination.

Hinata's eyes widened a fraction of an inch as she had seen me circle around, and her hand moved to defend herself. I smirked at the incompetent attempt at saving her life from the kunai aimed at her throat and choked as the black bullet was deflected. A dead thud echoed shortly across the space into the shell of my ears as finality.

She panted wearily, light, soft, breathes in rapid succession as she stared back, eyes still wide, almost in disbelief. Her posture was poor, back hunched in an inept effort to push the pain of her broken ribs into oblivion. Her hand remained stiff, poised above her shoulders out before her neck.

Letting her hand fall back to her side, the kunai in her once balled fist dangled loosely on the end of her index finger before she replaced it in her grasp, regaining almost blank composure. Even with the powerful sight that I possessed, I was in need to be sure that the crease over Hinata's unblemished forehead was a trick of the eyes, her own pallid irises flashing dull and cautious.

With a sharp intake of breath as I raised my arms, an unconscious smirk painted over my lips, my jaw locking deftly as stony eyes strayed from Hinata's identical genki kenkai, tempted by the black weapon previously shifted in said kunoichi's hand.

A liquid, dark obsidian through my blood-line limit, ran the length of the knife, reaching the point in a droplet that - even with gravity's pull - clung thickly to the razor edge. Watching the tiny drop as though if I looked away, coherent thought would leave me, my milky irises observed solemnly as it slipped from the blade, shape-shifting into constantly fluxing pellets as it fell to and splatter across the earth.

And all the while, Hinata stood on the balls of her feet, ready for me to sprint in her direction, her eyes locked tight on the whole of my frame trying to read my movements and reactions.

Denying her the great pleasure to see the mild shock that I felt written across my features, I avoided the image of the wound pronouncedly burning a line on my bicep, each of my toes tipping into the ground for stability as I sunk lower into my stance.

My eyebrows fell just above my eyes as they made contact with her own, analysing her stance as well. Calculating quickly in my head, with seconds notice, I flung another black weapon I had plucked from it's resting place, thrusting it to the very center of the female Hyuuga's forehead as if a target were present in that exact spot.

I wanted to swipe that wrinkle from her head. It mocked me, threatening me as if I knew not what I was doing. As if I wasn't capable. It filled my being with anger, furious in my blood stream and pulsed into every cell of my body. Anger turned to exileration; a true thurst for blood.

Just the sight of her before me in defiance insulted me; made enmity an emotion that I cold not push from my mind. Her wound had already limited her ability, casting an inevitable disability that would result in her end, and yet, she fought so hard for nothing. She fought this losing battle as if she could prove something that was not there to begin with.

The fluid of my existence raced in a heated line to my elbow, tracing a thick crimson stain along my flesh. Bowing at the bend of my joint, it coursed in one thick, solid bead to the threads of bleach white draped over the muscle of my arm. Its pungent, metallic smell overwhelmed me at once, constraining me to take heed of its existence along my arm.

The chance to show that - unlike what I had previously thought - destiny was not predetermined; that I could write it for myself, so close I could feel it on my fingertips was once again. The feel of which is not that unlike mist.

I had broken all the rules in this world that destiny had wrote for me. A simple Side branch Hyuuga thrust into the cruel world, thrown to the dogs to be ripped apart. But, I prevailed, rising above even the lot of the Main branch in my attempt at success; my attempt at freedom from she who stayed to unwantedly bound to me.

I was no dog; no chained beast to be kicked around by Main branch pigs. I was better. I was stronger. And, I would show that minutes - the minutes that had been in my father's rivalry birth - meant nothing if you could not use what you were given at the dawning of you life.

I would prove that this cruel thing, this being, this entity known as such a thing as _fate_ - predestined and painful - was nothing against me any longer. That I was capable of breaking the lock on the cage and setting myself free from the whim of the Main branch and their constraining seals. The last of things she will be needed of.

Only seconds.

My heart leaped at opportunity, and my feet moved from beneath me, driving me forward as the kunai took the place of a distraction. What was the point of playing cat and mouse any longer when the cat would win in the end? Suffering was too good a punishment for her.

I rounded a path to my left, exiting the open circle of ground and entering the line of trees, letting the black object take it's course as I bent around a trunk. A clang of metal reached my ears followed by a dull thud.

Forced light steps reflected off the surrounding trees as I delved deeper into their refuge and I was unsure as to whether the pounding feet were mine, or those of my pursuer.

Dirt spewed up in a small cloud around my feet as I stopped abruptly, turning on heel to face Hinata as she tried to slow her pace. Taking no time, I lashed out a kick in aim for her side.

A split second was lost and a minuscule glance into her identical eyes told me of her shock an weariness. But, despite that, my shin remain pressed to the bone of her forearm, reinforced with that of her right hand so close to her head. The metal weapon formally in her grasp was left to fall to the choppy dirt by our feet in her awed state.

Suffering was what I had lived with, and that was something that I felt I didn't want to share. I didn't want her to think that - on any level - we were the same. That we had had anything in common, because she could never know the true brutality of the world as I had. So protected in the center as the head of the clan, she could never know true pain unless someone else served it to her on her silver platter as I did now.

Just as they always wished of a Branch member: Here to serve at all costs. Wasn't I doing just that?

I grimaced in resentment, recoiling my right leg to release my left, following fluidly with an elbow to what I would have hoped would make contact with the dark-haired kunoichi's temple.

She blocked once more her arm reaching below her waist in an effort to keep my impact from finishing off her faulted footing from her hasty stop. Her head dipping as my arm had sailed past the top of her head, staggering back to press her feet harder into the thirsting dirt.

Just as the kunoichi brought her hand before her, index and middle finger extended, a vigorous grunt left the girl's mouth in an jumble of syllables cut too short as I slashed forward with flat hands, my open palm leaving a weak strike across her right hip. I thrust a few times at vital spots, pushing her back as she bent and bowed around the mass of my compelled hands, narrowly dodging each time.

Her hand met mine in the middle of our distance from each other, the bone of her small wrist jabbing into the pulse of my own. I recovered my hand, drawing it against my chest just as fast as I had struck, my other arm extending to reach for her again.

Palms touched and I brushed my cousin's from mine, feet rooted to the dry ground. My elbows bent and unbent as my brow wrinkled into a fierce frown, our hands in contact as we battled for dominance; for some sort of weakness in the others defence and reflexes.

I pressed on, urging my muscles to contract faster; to expand faster. Abruptly, Hinata came to a stop, finding foothold on the gnarled roots of a nearby tree, her hands matching mine in a battle of defences. Just as fast as I could strike forth, the heiress's hands strained her resistance, blocking my attacks by rolling my hands off her wrists and the heel of her palms.

My nose wrinkled as I concentrated, searching for a weakened hole in her safeguard. All too sudden, it wasn't hard to see. Her breath hitched each time I made contact with her equally strong appendages and it wasn't hard to remembered why, the significant leaking of red bodily fluid from between teeth-bit lips making it all the more obvious.

Each of her repealing hands revolved around the point of her pain, a cover of her arms constantly kept close to her side to save from further impairment, no matter what speed I maintained.

Focusing my attention on the heavy guard she held around the point of which her broken ribs lay, I tried much less than desperately to get her hands to weaken the defence.

At the awkward angle, the heiress' hands began to fail to uphold celerity with my own, shaking as she tried to deflect my fingers without making direct contact.

I could just make out her expression in my byakugan, so much more pale than it had been before; the lighting's trick, I mused. Her lips remained parted, sucking and releasing air harsh and raged in a mildly continuous pattern, her eyes searching, much less calculating than fractionally doe-eyed. Her brow was glazed with sweat, eyes weakly riveted with the veins that signaled the activation of the Hyuuga's optic weapon.

Inhaling silently as I executed the last of my Gentle Fists barrage, I shifted my weight to my left leg, throwing a kick into Hinata's mid-section, just about her waist. Within a short second, I could feel my shin rush to meet the minute cushion of the periwinkle fleece loose around my cousin's forearm that blocked my access.

Without fail, I retracted my leg, bending it as close to my pelvis as anatomically possible, pushing my left hand - two fingers extended - forward.

The heiress' body lurched inward, bending around the point of her right rotation cuff that I had just poured my own chakra into. With a wet cough, a droplet of blood could be heard as it landed in the free dirt below.

The blood on my arm had dried now, caked to my skin and robe to join us as one, breaking into flakes as I reached into my holster once more. With little time wasted, I bounced back, flipping mid-air to land nimbly on my left hand. At this point of contact with the ground, I flung the weapon light in my hand in the general direction of where I had once been, releasing chakra from my palm to eject me into the branches.

Kunai rained from above just as the thunk signaled the wound I had just put in a nearby tree, the black spikes forcing me to move from my crouched position to be airborne again, flashing to another, thicker branch at my left.

The bark made friction with my ninja-issued sandals and I swung up onto a branch higher on my left with a mute grunt, my hand hardly making contact with the rough bark as I twirled around it in an arc. As a further precaution, I jumped up the next few branches on my right, dodging the large majority of the speeding blades in the process.

My brow furrowed just as I located my attacker, a meter higher than myself, and as an after thought, I moved my head from the path of a deathly kunai, grasping the projectile easily from the air by its handle. Taking it quick into my hand, I released it from my grasp, sending it hurling back in a careless manner only for an obvious clean miss.

Despite how many throwing knifes had made it pefectly in my direction, her right hand clawed at the light purple material over her breast, her clavical showing just above the neck of said coat. One silver eye was closed tightly, her jaw clenched to steal the pain away. Her temples remained soft skin, the veins having dispersed with the weight of sudden pain.

Without forethought, my body acting on its own accord, I flew along the limb stemming from the trunk at my back, racing along and just to the edge before I jumped to lift myself into the stale oxygen around us.

I gathered energy into my hands, releasing the raw chakra in a violent burst of wind, my fingers scrunched against my flat palm as I grunted with the effort. The gust billowed in Hinata's direction, her body's reaction almost too slow to save her. Vaulting off the side of the limb, she fell, head first, back to earth, a storm of shuriken thrown from her hands flying up to greet me.

My fingers flickered into hand seals, signaling the right signs in perfect succession as I landed light on the thick mass of a tree limb.

"Kaiten!" My voice sounded rough and angry in my ears, but the noise was quickly forgotten as I focused on executing the perfect amount of energy from my body. Chakra poured from each of my tenketsu, molding into a visible blue sphere around the whole of my body. The black stars whistled to me only to be deflected by the blue energy.

Settling my rotation on the breaking branch, I jumped, the pressure of my weight forcing it to crack and fall to the ground along with me.

My feet made contact with the ground, a light thud on the balls of my feet in comparison to the limb crashing down at my back. Evening my weight as I fell quick into defence, my arms shot up, poised to guard from an aerial as a thin shadow dropped from the sky above. Something splattered against my cheek and I faintly remembered the look on her face - features mauled with pain and failing persistence - as I side stepped out of her range.

Her falling frame met ground, her balance shaky and landing rough as she tried hard to stay erect, legs all but collapsing out from under her with the force of her weight. It was all just seconds and without thinking my leg kicked from under me, a roundhouse into her abdomen.

The feel of her strong muscles contracting from my blow rippled across my shin just before I retracted my leg, a high screech meeting my ears as Hinata's knees buckled with the brutality of my attack causing her to retreat back a few feet. She bent forward, her eyes - fractionally open - looked dead and glassy, a sign of true fear in the thick blood that pulsed rapidly through her dilated veins to drip in clots from between her lips.

She coughed and a bead of scarlet pelted her hand and the wilting plants below.

My heart thrust into a gallop. The sight, the smell or such weakness, blood in rivulets from the broken and battered organs in her torso set off animal instincts in my body, a fury of bloodlust bubbling in the pit of my stomach. My muscles twitched in anxiousness.

And so, the lion closed in on the lamb.

Lackluster, pearl orbs flitted over the mass of the earth before her, seeing nothing and seeing beyond.

Looking at her failing body in front of me, something pulled somewhere inside me. My eyes narrowed, eyebrows coming together in rage at the churn in my stomach - at the weakness in her bones.

Instantaneously, dying leaves ruffled, shifting across the forest floor as the dark haired kunoichi created distance, fatigue evident. The light of the clearing reflected off the darkness of the back of her head, a crown of light illuminating her silhouette as her hair fell in ribbons laced over her extended shaking hands.

I noted dully the rise and fall of her breast - shaky as that of a leaf in the wind - my feet covering the expanse in three fluid strides. A cough ruptured from Hinata's throat, drowned out by the sound of her wail as her back arched, bowing away from the splinter of pain and chakra I had poured into liver.

Apathy washed over my being as I watched her fall back first toward the ground, twisting in mid air to take the brunt of the impact into her right arm. I dropped my arms slightly, gazing down as all sound seemed to leave me, my attention riveted onto signs of her life - hanging by what I could only describe as threads.

Through chakra precise eyes, I could see the insufficient glow of ebbing blue energy, just about the time I noticed the area of which a large remainder was directed.

Heat shattered through my ankle, electricity in one bolt through my thigh as her amplified kick met my vulnerable bone. I winced, gritting my teeth in animosity, a single foot pulling my own out from under me.

My sight was immediately stung white by the blaze of the rising star above, my back arranging a harsh rendezvous with solid terrain. A weight quickly shifted on top of me, across my waist and over my sides, blocking the lustrous sky blue - an opposite of the midnight just above me.

I fought to keep her unsteady over my chest, her wrists clasped in my hands as I grasped tighter, each of the drops of her blood soaking through my pristine white of my robe.

Gritting her teeth, she rose higher, slamming a knee into my gut to release my hands from her person. My nose scrunched at the burst of energy through my tenketsu, the burning shock causing the abortion of my Byakugan. Multiple times, a pinprick of unseen fire echoed through me, building anger enough to recover strength.

My biceps flared, reaching above me to grab each of her shoulders as I took the advantage of her mild shock to throw her from my torso. She landed in a heap of battered and blood, a dry scrap across brown leaves.

Raising my head, my abdomen flexed to lift my upper body as I scrunched back into the thick base of a tree, breath hitching in my throat with every intake. Metal leaked onto my tongue and I spat in annoyance, ignoring the red that mixed with my saliva in the dirt.

She was broken and crumpled in on herself, refusing the offer I could just see in the reflection of her distant sight, even as she lolled in her pain, turning herself onto her stomach to rise up.

I quickly shifted my weight into my legs, declining emotion and the warning my brain awarded to my insides with the message of pain. My long, coffee locks fell over my shoulders, dirt and grass streaked in - gratefully free from its tie - as I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.

On one arm, the heiress rose from the ground, one thigh buried into the dirt, her other leg crossing it. My pulse burst in my ears, beating through my skull as though a rabid animal.

Her fingers held stiff, extended before her, and even from the distance I could see it in her eyes. Anger anew grew in a wave inside me, replacing the emotions - all - that had welled within me before. My lips moved with hatred, and I wanted to spit the words that formed, but kept a calm demeanor.

"Yes, Hinata-sama." My voice was cracked, but strong in my ears, a sound that lead her to believe that I had always been aware that it would come to this. "That's it." I coaxed. "It was always just in the back of your mind, wasn't it?

"Just as it was. I beg of you... Use the seal. Show me that you are just as cowardice as I thought from the very beginning." My muscles tensed unconsciously, and I flexed my biceps in fury, my legs aching to feel her cheekbone pressed to my the cartilage of the joint in my leg. The waves of pain across my stomach had completely left my mind. "The fear in your eyes only confirms it - the way you feel. The monstrosity that you now see me and all of the Side branch as.

"Am I just an animal to you now?" I paused, watching carefully to the battle happening in the girl before me, her eyes weary as her hand quivered in front of her.

"So dependent on everything else but your own abilities, you do indeed live up to what I had always thought you were. Absolutely worthless." Each of my words carried forward, hitting somewhere close to home. The resolve in her eyes had yet to show, and I wanted to be on the end that she remained, to show her just what it felt like to be on this receiving line.

"Put me in my place. Show me that I should obey your will; show me the error of the things I have done." My facial features slacked, loosing all emotion to remain as a blank, intentional slate. "Show me your rule and make me the dog that I am suppose to be with this... this Goddamned seal!"

My voice was losing it's calm, raspy and harsh, on the verge of breaking into a heated fury of blazing words. In one swift movement, my hands ripped the Konoha symbol from my head to toss it and the bandaging - unwanted and forgotten - at my side. Each of my fingers light on my forehead, I traced the mint green mark that tingled just under my skin.

"Let me feel your wrath, Hinata-sama. Because other wise, this is not in your favor."

Her gaze lingered on mine, watching the fire flickering just behind my white irises. Hers were wider now, seeing the world around her with more color and detail, seeing straight past her hand at me as if it wasn't even there.

Turning her head, her spit was crimson in the surviving grass among the leaves, her eyes closing for an almost non-existent time when she turned back to me. Without obvious forethought, her hand drop, closing on the ground to stabilize her mass as she got to her knees. Feet before me, her hands by her side, she looked as though she was asking for forgiveness, and I snorted at her considerate wish.

I lifted my leg sharply, my knee hitting the point of Hinata's chin with a bold snap as it echoed with her teeth clamping together. Her body failed - muscles bruised and strained - as the force of impact made her back arch, teeth clenched in an aching grimace.

My fingers easily found each of the tenketsu in her body, one after the other drilling into the vital sources of chakra points, cutting their flow with the mix of mine from energy-coated fingers. My two fingers drilled into the flesh of her torso and arms, severing points of her the body most needed to survive, to live at all. A rhythm began to form, my hands working in a choreographed pattern to the beat of a song that did not appear to be around us.

"-nata...?"

A shouting voice broke my concentration and on reflex, I stopped my arms, stepping away from her form as though a little kid caught by his parents.

Close to the clearing, I could see bright orange reflecting back at me through the darkness the canopy above provided. In my adrenaline high, I turned back to Hinata, scared of just what I had done.

Her milky eyes glazed over, seeing the unknown world after, before herself, both of her pale hands limp by her sides as she swayed on her knees, scathed and covered in a plathera of darkening marks of every size. Dull pearls closed slowly behind skin, blankets of night carrying her abroad.

"Hinata!"

Her name from someone else's lips reached me, breaking into my brain - to show the true damage I had done to my unseeing eyes. I was rooted to the single spot I stood with a mixture of awe and faint terror across my features.

Her parted lips remaining open as I reached to grab her from the dirt rushing to meet her from below.

But, Naruto reached her first, grabbing her gently by the shoulders to lay her against his chest. His cerulean eyes stayed focused on me, an odd mix of sadness and anger fighting for control of his features. Lee deterred at the edge of the trees, emotions washing over his face before others found their way out to brush the previous one away again and again.

I pulled my hands back against my body, suddenly small and inadequate in my own skin, - ashamed of what I thought was the unsureness of which I stood there.

My expression dulled into impassiveness. Only then did I let my feet carry me away in a rush of dead wind.

Ivory eyes were burnt into the back of my eyelids; into my very memories, haunting me. My brain was crowded in thoughts, losing room for me to remember how to breathe. I wanted to ask myself '_What have I done_,' but I knew just the answer to such a question. The emotions - the _fear_, and somehow the forgiveness - that traced behind those pallid irises etched into the multiple cells of my brain grasped at my lungs.

Why did I feel this way, was a question I asked myself instead. This was what I had wanted, what I had come to retrieve, and it was something that felt so wrong that I didn't know what to believe. Freedom from exactly what I was feeling now. The tie to another being; the need to sacrifice myself for someone else against my will.

_Sweet, dully glowing ivory. The sweetness and innocence of the pure color _itself...

And, this ache... It was something I could not escape - not again.

...Far, _far_ away.

_______________________________________________

I've just so suddenly realised quite a few things. One of which would be the fact that I alternate quite frequently between drawing, writing and then taking a major break, all of during which I never actually have time to make myself come up with something good, or to finish it at all, for that matter. As well, it seems that this goes in an ever revolving circle, which makes it worse because it's just so damn frustrating... So, that also means that if I go missing for a while, I have not dropped off the face of the earth, but am trying my best to regain my ability to focus on what I'm suppose to be writing. Sobokusa, for this example.

And then finally, I also must update on my awareness that I had said that I would write some DeiSaku. I'm truly sorry to say that I will not being touching on that subject at this moment, but, some time in the ner future, maybe if I get lucky. I will start a GenSaku (Genma and Sakura). I've had all my ideas for fanfictions for a while, but, this one has been simmering a little longer. I've also got the plot, and the majority of the first chapter wrote out, anyway.

All of those who have pushed me forward with you comments and favorites, especially, as well as the others who have helped with their own works of art: Lady Hanaka, of whom I' ve been absolutely obsessed with for the last month. (And, might I add that I've already flown through two of your amazingly long fanfictions and am gleefully awaiting more.) Thanks dearly for the inspiration, all. I'm truly proud - and relieved - to say that this episode of Neji's - and mine as well - life is now complete.

Enough now, I'm off to make the next chapter. I'm sure it will be much easier now. ;]

**-Eureka-chan**


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